Washington will be shorthanded again and has another chance to play spoiler against the Bruins.
After a stunning upset victory over the New York Islanders on Monday, the shorthanded Washington Capitals have found late life as they go into the final two games of the season. They'll have 18 skaters this time, though, as they face another tough competitor and some former friends in the Boston Bruins.
Washington will look to play spoiler again, as the Bruins can set the new NHL single-season points record with a victory.
Head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters that Ovechkin will be out again as he remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Also, Anthony Mantha (lower-body), Trevor van Riemsdyk (upper-body) and Nic Dowd (undisclosed) will also be out again. T.J. Oshie (upper-body) is shut down for the rest of the season.
To make up for this, Henrik Borgstrom has been recalled.
Here are the projected lines:
Conor Sheary-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano-Nicklas Backstrom-Craig Smith
Joe Snively-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Henrik Borgstrom
Beck Malenstyn-Aliaksei Protas-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Nick Jensen
Alex Alexeyev-Matt Irwin
Charlie Lindgren will start, taking the second half of the back-to-back with Darcy Kuemper having stopped 38 of 40 shots just 24 hours ago.
Players To Watch
- Dylan Strome has goals in four straight games and has established a new career high in goals, points and games played this season.
- Tom Wilson has recorded two goals and two assists in back-to-back games. His 20 points in 31 games would have him on pace for 53 points in a full 82-game campaign.
- This will mark the first game where Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway will suit up against their old club. The same goes for Craig Smith, who had a multi-point outing on Monday. The Capitals dealt Orlov and Hathaway to Boston in February in exchange for Smith.